Brawn not prepared to risk points

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn has defended the decision to order his drivers to hold station during the Malaysian GP...

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn has defended the decision to order his drivers to hold station during the Malaysian GP.

Lewis Hamilton was running in third place during the final few laps and was told to save fuel, but his team-mate Nico Rosberg was quite clearly faster than him. Rosberg asked if he could overtake Hamilton, but the reply from Brawn was "negative Nico, negative".

After the race Rosberg told the team "remember this one" while Hamilton admitted during the podium interviews that his German team-mate deserved to finish third.

However, Brawn insists the team couldn't afford to take unnecessary risks and throw away a potential third and fourth place.

"In my judgement, the lowest risk solution was for the drivers to hold station," he told Autosport.

"Nico may have got past Lewis, but on the fuel management programme that both drivers were running, there was no opportunity to progress further or challenge the front two cars.

"A third and fourth place finish was an excellent result for the team and I was not prepared to risk it.

"When I spoke to the team afterwards, I used the analogy of a man in the desert who had found a cup of water - and we wanted to make sure that we didn't spill a single drop."